Milan Bandić
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Milan Bandić (b. 1955 in Donji Mamići near Grude in Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a Croatian politician, and member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. He is the Mayor of Zagreb, currently serving his third term.
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[edit] Political career
Bandić moved to Zagreb and earned his degree at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb. He became a member of the Communist Party and remained there after the first democratic elections, being one of the few Herzegovina Croats to do so. As such, he proved to be a valuable asset for the reformed Communist party.
Bandić showed great organisational ability and populist instincts, that allowed the SDP to make dramatic advances in Zagreb blue-collar neighbourhoods and attract votes that Franjo Tuđman and his HDZ party had considered their own by default. This manifested itself at the 1995 parliamentary and City of Zagreb elections, leading to the Zagreb Crisis.
Milan Bandić was first elected mayor in 2000, and then was re-elected on regular city elections in 2001.
During the first campaign, his Herzegovina background became an issue due to Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) suggesting that only a native citizen of Zagreb could become the city's mayor. The HSS hoped that the majority of Zagreb voters would turn away from Bandić because his countrymen were widely perceived in the city to be a privileged class during Tuđman's regime and involved in all kinds of scandals. Those expectations weren't met, however, and Bandić later used his Herzegovina background as an advantage, broadening his support among elements of the Croatian establishment that held right-wing political views.
His rapid rise to power and popularity created a backlash, especially among liberal intellectuals gathered around HNS and Vesna Pusić, who dislike his populism and occasional defiance towards decisions made by courts and the national government. Nevertheless, the People's Party had ruled Zagreb in coalition with the Social Democrats between 2001 and 2005.
Since Zagreb generates more than 30% of Croatia's GDP (as of 2003)[1], and the city budget exceeds 6.8 billion kuna, Bandić is often perceived as the third most powerful politician in Croatia. He has found profound way to redirect Zagreb budget money to the pockets of his friends. This is the reason why he was able to maintain a political base independent even from the SDP, and remains as the only top Party official who could defy the party president and former Prime Minister Ivica Račan.
Bandić was re-elected mayor in 2005.
[edit] Health problems
Bandić is well known for being a workaholic - he often claims to work 15-16 hours a day - which boosts his popularity. However, his health has suffered significantly because of this.
On July 3, 2003, during a session of Zagreb City Council, he started feeling bad, and after the session he requested medical help. Media reported that he had a minor stroke, but official explanation was that it was a spasm of a blood vessel in the endocranium as a result of exhaustion and hard work (Bandić himself in his interviews refers to the condition as stroke). He was hospitalised for a few weeks (where he was fed through a tube) and then transferred to the Krapinske toplice (spa) for recovery. His political career was at the time regarded as finished, but he rapidly recovered and in early September of 2003 was again on duty.
On September 24, 2005, while he was attending a wedding he became ill and after being transferred to hospital he was diagnosed with an ulcer. He was medically treated and the next day he was at work.
[edit] References
- ^ Brčić, Nevenka (2006-09-04). Bilo kuda - Zagreb svuda (Croatian). Privredni Vjesnik. Retrieved on 2006-10-13.
